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Investing Topics: Backwardation

Last week’s spike in volatility was difficult for every investor, especially after a period of unprecedented placidity during which many market participants forgot the terror that these swoons can induce, even if US equities were overdue for some profit-taking.

For better or worse, the highs and lows of this down-cycle have accustomed energy-focused investors to bouts of sharp volatility. Nevertheless, the selloff in energy stocks was still harrowing, with the S&P 500 Energy Index giving up all the gains it had chalked up in the first month of the year.

Energy stocks appear to be suffering from a case of déjà vu. Last year, the sharp recovery in US crude production and the oil-directed rig count, coupled with money managers taking profits on their sizable long positions in Brent and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures, conspired to send WTI tumbling to as low as $42 per barrel.

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